Resilient earring including means limiting pressure on the ear lobe

ABSTRACT

An ear ornament having a length of wire bent upon itself to form a spring loop with each of the ends thereof bent upwardly in a curvature reversed from that of the spring loop. A tubular sleeve encircles the wire in the area where the ends of the wire pass each other in forming said loop, thereby preventing the loop from springing open and the ends of the wire passing back by each other. Structure is formed on each of the ends of the wire for engaging the ear lobe of a wearer therebetween, and this structure may be in the form of spherical balls or substantially flat plate members. Additional ornamental structure may be added to the ear ornament such as a second loop of wire that is slidingly secured to the bottom of the spring loop or such as ornamental structure attached to the bottom of the tubular sleeve.

United States "Patent 1191 Melone RESILIENT EARRING INCLUDING MEANS LIMITING PRESSURE ON THE EAR LOBE [76] Inventor: Anthony Melone,40 Poppy Drive,

Cranston, RI. 02920 [22] Filed: June 9, 1972 [211 App]. No.: 261,447

[ June 19, 1973 Primary Examiner-F. Barry Shay Att0rney- Herbert B. Barlow, Herbert B. Barlow, Jr..

and Charles C. Logan II [57] ABSTRACT An ear ornament having a length of wire bent upon itself to form a spring loop with each of the ends thereof bent upwardly in a curvature reversed from thatof the spring loop. A tubular sleeve encircles the wire in the area where the ends of the wire pass each other in forming said loop, thereby preventing the loop from springing open and the ends of the wire passing back by each other. Structure is formed on each of the ends of the wire for engaging the ear lobe of a wearer therebetween, and this structure may be in the form of spherical balls or substantially flat plate members. Additional ornamental structure may be added to the ear ornament such as a second loop of wire that is slidingly secured t0 the bottom of the spring loop or such as ornamental structure attached to the bottom of the tubular sleeve.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing; Figures PATENIEDJUNI 9|975 .599 v FIG.I

FIG.4

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RESILIENT EARRING INCLUDING MEANS LIMITING PRESSURE ON THE EAR LOBE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Applicants invention relates to articles of ornamental design adapted to be suspended from the ears. In the past ear ornaments have been designed having a multitude of different structures for securing them to the ears of a wearer. Many of these due to the nature of their structure produced a severe pinching action on the wearers ear lobes. Some of these which lacked structure that provides a constant squeezing action had to rely on the wearer tightening the earrings gripping structure a sufficient amount to prevent the ear ornament from being inadvertently jiggled loose. These types proved extremely uncomfortable since in order to prevent their being jiggled loose the wearer had to tighten them past the point of comfort in gripping the ear lobe. Also in the past ear ornaments have been designed having a length of wire bent upon itself to provide spring loop with the ends of the wire bent in a curvature reversed from that of the spring loop. These earrings, however, had no structure such as applicants sleeve which would prevent the ends of the ear ornament from springing back passed each other and opening of the spring loop nor did they have structure to limit the amount of squeeze or pinch the ends of the ear ornament apply on an ear lobe therebetween. Ear ornaments of the past also lacked a guiding structure such as applicants sleeve that would keep the ear engaging tips of the earring in diametrically opposed positions, both during the act of compressing the spring loop and the act of releasing the compression on the spring loop as the earring is secured or removed from the ear lobe of a wearer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Applicants novel ear ornament is made by taking a length of wire and bending it upon itself to produce a spring loop with end portions passing each .other. The ends of this loop are then bent upwardly in a curvature reversed from that of the spring loop. A tubular sleeve is positioned to loosely encircle the wire in the area where the ends of the wire pass each other in forming the loop. The sleeve is positioned in place priorto the reversed bending upwardly of the ends of the wire in a curvature reversed from that of the spring loop. Formed on the tips of the wire are various types of structure which are pressed against the opposite sides of an ear lobe. The spring loop provides spring tension causing the opposite tips of the earring to grip the ear lobe therebetween and to support the ear ornament as a whole. The tubular sleeve functions to provide a guide to keep the opposite tips of the ear ornament in diametrically opposite positions while the spring loop is being compressed and also when the compression of the spring loop is released. The tubular sleeve also prevents the opposite tips of the wire from passing beyond each other when the compression is released on the spring loop. Furthermore due to the positioning of the sleeve between the ends of the ear ornament the amount of compression or squeezing of the tips of the ear ornament on the ear lobe is limited since the tips are prevented from coming back into surface contact with each other even in a free state.

It is an object of the invention to provide an ear ornament whose pieces are easily manufactured and assembled.

It is an object of the invention to provide a spring loop ear ornament with structure to prevent the tip from springing back past each other.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a spring loop ear ornament with structure to limit the amount of pinch pressure applied to the ear lobes of a wearer.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an ear ornament having a basic structure which can be moditied to produce many attractive overall designs.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of applicants novel ear ornament in its relaxed position;

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1 but illustrates the manner in which the tips of the ear ornament may be separated for insertion upon an ear lobe when grabbed between the index finger and thumb of a user;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of a first alternative embodiment of applicants ear ornament; and

FIG. 4 is a front elevation view of a second alternative embodiment of applicants novel ear ornament.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, applicants novel ear ornament will be described. The ear ornament is generally designated numeral .10 and it is formed by taking a single length of wire and bending it upon itself to provide a spring loop 12 whose opposite ends pass each other at point 14. A tubular sleeve 16 is positioned to loosely encircle said wire in the area where the end of the wire pass each other. After the ends of the wire pass outwardly from the ends of sleeve 16, they are bent upwardly in a curvature reversed from that of the spring loop. Upon. the free ends 18 and 20 of the wire are formed ear engaging tips 19 and 21 which may be of any shape but in this specific embodiment are illustrated as being spherical in design and which may be made of gold, real or imitation pearl, or any other type of material desired. The arrangement is such that the space between the tips is less than the thickness of the ear lobe so that there may be a gripping action. The basic structural limitations on design of these tips being the fact that it is their surfaces which compressively grip the ear lobe of the wearer in order to support the ear ornament.

In FIG. 2 the earornament 10 is illustrated showing the manner in which the tips of the earring may be separated for insertion upon an earlobe. This is normally done by grasping the opposite vertical surfaces of the spring loop 12 between the index finger and thumb of the user. As the spring loop is compressed the tips are moved to a spaced relationship and may be then placed on diametrically oppositesides of the ear lobe of a wearer.

Looking at FIG. 3, a first alternative embodiment of applicants novel ear ornament is illustrated. In addition to the basic structure of the ornament described in FIG. 1, a second closed loop 30 is loosely attached to the bottom of the spring loop 12 in sliding engagement.

taching plate 34 to closed loop 30 would normally be by soldering.

A second alternative embodiment of applicants novel ear ornament is illustrated in FIG. 4. In this embodiment an eyelet 40 is secured to the bottom of tubular sleeve 16 and to this is attached an ornamental member 42, such as a pearl or other type of ornamental design, by eyelet 44. A different type of ear engaging structure is also shown with plate members 50 and 52 secured to the ends 51 and 53 respectively of the wire. Upon one of these plates is mounted an ornamental member such as a real or imitation pearl or stone 54.

What is claimed is:

1. An ear ornament comprising a length of resilient wire bent upon itself to provide a spring loop with the end portions each passing across the other and having each of the ends thereof bent upwardly in a curvation reversed from that of the spring loop and terminating in earengaging tips,

means for preventing the loop from springing open and the ends of the wire passing back by each other and for preventing said tips from pressing against each other to limit the amount of pressure the tips can apply to an ear lobe clamped therebetween said means comprising a tubular sleeve encircling said ends in the area where the ends pass each other in forming said loop.

2. An ear ornament as recited in claim 1 further comprising means on each of the ends of the wire for gripping the ear lobe of a wearer therebetween.

3. An ear ornament as recited in claim 2 wherein said means on each of the ends of the wire are spherical balls.

4. An ear ornament as recited in claim 2 wherein said means on each of the ends of the wire comprise a substantially flat plate.

5. An ear ornament as recited in claim 1 further comprising a second loop of wire that is slidingly secured to said spring loop.

6. An ear ornament as recited in claim 1 further comprising ornamental means attached to the bottom of said tubular sleeve. 

1. An ear ornament comprising a length of resilient wire bent upon itself to provide a spring loop with the end portions each passing across the other and having each of the ends thereof bent upwardly in a curvation reversed from that of the spring loop and terminating in earengaging tips, means for preventing the loop from springing open and the ends of the wire passing back by each other and for preventing said tips from pressing against each other to limit the amount of pressure the tips can apply to an ear lobe clamped therebetween said means comprising a tubular sleeve encircling said ends in the area where the ends pass each other in forming said loop.
 2. An ear ornament as recited in claim 1 further comprising means on each of the ends of the wire for gripping the ear lobe of a wearer therebetween.
 3. An ear ornament as recited in claim 2 wherein said means on each of the ends of the wire are spherical balls.
 4. An ear ornament as recited in claim 2 wherein said means on each of the ends of the wire comprise a substantially flat plate.
 5. An ear ornament as recited in claim 1 further comprising a second loop of wire that is slidingly secured to said spring loop.
 6. An ear ornament as recited in claim 1 further comprising ornamental means attached to the bottom of said tubular sleeve. 